The Thursday Night Lineup

<p>Christmas Day of Minnesota basketball season approaches with the Breakdown Tip-Off Classic Saturday, but there are plenty of great games to look out for leading up to it. We give you five games to keep an eye on across the state tonight.</p> <p><strong>Section 2A Showdown. </strong>Fresh off a state championship in football, Mayer Lutheran takes the bus down to Bird Island to open the hoops season at BOLD, a perennially worthy opponent in the dogfight that is Section 2A. The Crusaders return nearly their entire roster from a year ago led by star quarterback/point guard Ty Hoese. Shooters and athletic cutters surround him on this preseason top 10 team in Class A. BOLD is coming off a nice win over Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart in their opener, led by 19 points apiece from Cole Visser and Max Marks. Early season section games carry lots of weight when it comes down to the postseason picture, expect a good one in the west central MN area tonight.</p> <p><strong>Battle of No. 2s. </strong>Park Center and DeLaSalle are ranked second in their respective classes and tonight the Pirate Ship might explode with noise as these two heavyweights match up in Brooklyn Park. The fabulous perimeter trio of [player_tooltip player_id="1143878" first="Leo" last="Torbor"], [player_tooltip player_id="958757" first="Cody" last="Pennebaker"] [player_tooltip player_id="850710" first="Braeden" last="Carrington"] will have as tough a defensive challenge as any with Randy McClendon, [player_tooltip player_id="1172835" first="Casmir" last="Chavis"] and [player_tooltip player_id="962218" first="Nasir" last="Whitlock"] on the other side. Can De's [player_tooltip player_id="1288764" first="Pj" last="Pounds"] and [player_tooltip player_id="958777" first="Kyle" last="Johnson"] (who's had a hot start to the season) create a margin of victory against secondary Park Center players? This is a premier matchup across the board!</p> <p><br /> <strong>Some of the south's best due for rematch. </strong>Anyone who knows Minnesota basketball knows that Section 1AA is a grinder every single season. You have to really earn your way out of it into state. Though they don't line up in the same section this season (Stewartville jumped to AAA) they still are HVL conference rivals and know each other well enough to make this game an all-timer every meeting. Lake City's excellent group of guards young and old will be a great test for the young Stewartville rotation. A matchup I'm looking forward to? [player_tooltip player_id="796956" first="Justin" last="Wohlers"] vs. Tegan Malone. Malone knocked down four triples in five attempts for Stewartville to help them to victory in their first game, Wohlers is the crafty, grown-into-his-body veteran who can make you pay in every way imaginable. Watch for sophomores [player_tooltip player_id="1284140" first="Hunter" last="Lorenson"], [player_tooltip player_id="1284166" first="Keegan" last="Ryan"] and [player_tooltip player_id="1284149" first="Jaden" last="Shones"] to make an impact for LC too. Stewartville's [player_tooltip player_id="1268458" first="Miles" last="Hettinger"] will be something to deal with at 6-foot-8 too.</p> <p><strong>Lakers/Wildcats. </strong>Lots of high hopes for the Wildcats of Eagan this season, and I think there's lots to base that off of. They came extremely close to beating South St. Paul last week and have the guard talent to compete with nearly everyone in the SSC. [player_tooltip player_id="962213" first="Emmanuel" last="Schmitter"] has been on fire to start and [player_tooltip player_id="962251" first="Oscar" last="Khazon"] right behind him. They host Minneapolis Southwest tonight, off to a 2-0 burst with wins over Richfield and Holy Angels. A veteran core of guys in [player_tooltip player_id="1139379" first="Preston" last="Engen"], [player_tooltip player_id="958692" first="Gabe" last="Senseman-Cassidy"] and Thomas Elias are carrying the load for the Lakers. Good matchups at the 1, 2 and 3 in this game tonight.</p> <p><strong>Geographic opposites attract. </strong>A small class game that has my eye is New Life Academy visiting Eagle Ridge Academy - that trek from Woodbury to Minnetonka is no joke! But seriously, Cade LaFavor is maybe the most intriguing prospect you've never heard of before. The 6-7 senior forward dropped 23 against Chesterton Academy and 18 more in a road loss to Belle Plaine that was a close game into the second half. Twin brother Hunter is 6-4 and another double-figure scorer. New Life is 2-0 with victories over Randolph and Hope Academy, averaging 81 points per game. [player_tooltip player_id="1225656" first="Max" last="Briggs"], [player_tooltip player_id="958832" first="Kollin" last="Kaemingk"] and [player_tooltip player_id="1225651" first="Erick" last="Reader"] have nice chemistry within rookie head coach Robbie Whitney's offense.</p>